Michael Regan/Getty ImagesAfter downing Chelsea on Saturday, West Brom are showing the elite of the Premier League that they are for real.

What a win it was today for West Bromwich Albion, defeating the current European Champions Chelsea 2-1 at the Hawthorns to elevate them to fourth in the Premier League with 23 points.

It has been suggested up until now that the Baggies are in a "false position". But after this victory, surely it is time for people to start sitting up and taking notice of what is happening at the Hawthorns. I'm not suggesting Albion will finish where they are now, far from it, but it's about time some recognition was given for the work being done at the club.

The Baggies sit fourth in the league, yet only spent £4 million during the summer for the purchase of Ben Foster. The season before, it was around the same sum spent on Shane Long while the rest of the captures have either been on free transfers or loans. It is completely dispelling the myth that money needs to be spent for any club to have relative success in the Premier League.

And Albion have not just assembled a good starting XI in a sensible away, they have established a good squad of players. Two key players were missing today in Foster and Gareth McAuley, yet Albion could call upon two full internationals to replace them in Boaz Myhil and Gabriel Tamas with both stepping in and not putting a foot wrong -- Myhil for the second week in a row playing very well.

Going forward, the plaudits must again go to Shane Long and Peter Odemwingie. People probably get bored of me raving about Long in this blog or on Twitter, but he is just a superb centre forward. Long has all the attributes you want in a lone forward. He is quick and strong, he holds the ball up and he can finish.

This is a very simplistic view of football on my part but there is nothing I love more than seeing a player who works his socks off for the side, and Long does that week in, week out. Every time Long goes off the pitch, you can see he is out on his feet and, as a fan, that is all I ask.

The sponsors gave the Irishman man of the match, but my man of the match was Odemwingie. It is the best performance I have seen from him in the wide role he now plays in. Of course he got the winning goal so is bound to take some plaudits but what really impressed me today was his work-rate.

Odemwingie supported his full back Billy Jones continually but in the second half he just took it up a notch. A player who is sometimes criticsed as being lazy and soft was anything but today. He was up and down the line and also won all six of his attempted tackles, most of them in key areas of the pitch.

Despite Odemwingine being my man of the match, I would like to give a special mention to Claudio Yacob today and the scouting team at West Brom. I do not know how a player as good as Yacob can have been ignored by so many teams, let alone how the club managed to sign him on a free.

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